Miu Miu Bag Europe

Croatia lost its only left back Danijel Pranjic during a friendly against Australia.

Dutch coach Raymond Verheijen, who has in the past helped condition Netherlands, South Korean and Russian players for European Championships and World Cups, has long been a critic of over training and blamed it for increasing injuries.

"I'd have liked to hit him, but you can't do that," Robben, who was not injured, said after the match.

Veteran Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart is out with a calf muscle injury in his right leg.

"They have to build up rhythm," he said.

Monaco striker Falcao was left out of Colombia's squad after failing to recover from a knee injury.

"The strange thing is that they've all been traumatic injuries, " Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini said of injuries to Reus and midfielder Riccardo Montolivo, who broke the tibia bone in his left leg last weekend during a warm up match with Ireland.

Spanish goalkeeper Victor Valdes tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in March.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Elite professional footballers may be pampered like royalty, but near constant training and grueling club and country commitments are taking their toll on the World Cup before the tournament even kicks off in Brazil.

Sometimes, players can be one another's worst enemies. Netherlands winger Arjen Robben was furious at a hard tackle from behind by Ghana defender Rashid Sumaila last month. Friendly games are often far from friendly, as Brazil and Serbia showed in a feisty game on Friday.

Reus twisted his left ankle while challenging Artur Yedigaryan in the first half of Germany's friendly against Armenia part of the team's buildup to the World Cup in Brazil.

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said he had to jettison his preferred 4 3 3 formation after key midfielder Kevin Strootman wrecked his knee playing for AS Roma.

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said he has not considered resting Neymar or any other players because of the recent wave of injuries.

Football is, of course, a fast and physical sport and not all injuries can be attributed to exhaustion, but many of the stars at the World Cup had barely finished their club seasons when they had to report to rigorous national training camps. Any lingering aches and pains they accumulated have no time to recover.

Among other players absent from football's greatest stage:

England midfielder Alex Oxlade Chamberlain's World Cup is in doubt after he sustained ligament damage in his right knee during a friendly against Ecuador in Miami Gardens on Wednesday.

the partial ligament tear in Reus' left ankle came a day after France winger Franck Ribery pulled out of the tournament after failing to overcome a back injury.

Mexican midfielders Juan Carlos Medina, who injured his ankle Miu Miu Bag Europe during practice three weeks ago and Luis Montes, who broke his right fibula in a match against Ecuador last Saturday.

Germany midfielder Marco Reus on Saturday became the latest player to pull out of the global football showcase, joining the likes of Frank Ribery, Radamel Falcao, Theo Walcott and several other big names who will be watching the World Cup in between trips to the doctor or physio.